Beating the dual drums of familiarity & excitement
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Conflict resolution
I was reading an article on stewarding online communities the other day and it talked about balancing comfort and familiarity with newness and excitement. I think we all need comfort and we all need excitement. What varies is our individual ratios of one to the other. Some of us like to eat the same thing […]
Tags: adventure, change management & wellness, comfort, excitement, familiarity, routine
Curious definition of stress
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Conflict resolution
I went to a talk at my kids’ school the other night about drug abuse prevention. Interesting material and great presenter. One of the things that caught my attention was the presenter’s definition of stress. Before I tell you what it was, what’s yours? Definition of stress that is. The dictionary calls it “a state […]
Tags: change management, drug abuse, emotion, learning, strain, stress, tension
Fail forward
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication, Conflict resolution
When Albert Einstein was asked what the best source of invention was he replied ‘mistakes’ (as heard on Terry O’Reilly’s Age of Persuasion). The only time we don’t make mistakes is when we’re sleeping (found on an IKEA postcard). Why then do we deny mistakes? Cover them up? Hide from them? Are embarrassed by them? […]
Tags: age of persuasion, albert einstein, cbc, cbc radio, change management, ikea, invention, learning, mess, mistakes, perspective, terry o'reilly, training & development
Leaving behind Tim Hortons at the Olympics
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
This is the view that greets me most mornings as I start my volunteer shift as a NOC assistant for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Tim Hortons on the sidelines. Cups of caffeine left behind, lined up along the garbage can, as we weave our way through security into the athlete’s village. No liquids allowed. There’s […]
Tags: 2010 olympics, celebrate, change management, olympics, perspective, routine, tim hortons, time, vancouver
A sneak peak of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Social Responsibility
I was lucky enough to take part in the dress rehearsal of the 21st Vancouver Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies. The same ceremonies that will be viewed by some 3 billion (with a b) eyeballs later today. I spent most of the time with tears coursing down my face. If you were there and if you […]
Tags: canadian, first nations, hallelujah, KD Lang, leap of faith, learning, olympics, opening ceremonies, pride, snowboard, vancouver, winter olympics
Start small & think big; creme brulee over soya sauce
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Creativity & innovation
A taste of two worlds. And a time honoured lesson. I was trying to put soya sauce on my sushi the other day and having a devil of a time. The little package of soya sauce didn’t have a small pre-cut in it designed to make it easy to open. While yesterday my taste buds […]
Tags: 4 hour work week, change management, creativity & innovation, creme brulee, four hour work week, learning, marie morin, perspective, tim ferris
Myles Horton & the Olympic Flame
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication
Myles Horton was a famous adult educator in the Appalachian mountains. He rode the rails with the hobos and learned valuable lessons from them, lessons that I’m applying during my volunteer work at the 2010 Olympics. Fire was valuable to the vulnerable men who hitched a ride by train. Fire kept you warm. It protected […]
Tags: 2010, change management, creativity & innovation, hobos, learning, long haul, myles horton, olympic flame, olympics, training & development, vancouver
Are you using all your strength?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication, Social Responsibility, Travel
You can be sure the people in Haiti are. Using all their strengths that is. Sometimes we are oblivious to our most obvious strengths. A little girl was having difficulty lifting a heavy stone. Her mother came along just then. Noting the girl’s failure, she asked, “Are you using all your strength?” “Yes, I am,” […]
Tags: disaster, haiti, paradise built in hell, possibilities, rebecca solnit, strength
Stress relief a la country music & dill pickles
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication, Humor & comedy
In my last post I talked about my first day on the job, doing job training for developmentally delayed adults when I was 17 years old. I learned a lot about expecting the unexpected there. From helping an elfin older lady named Cookie do up her bra to customizing stress relief. Stress. It’s a killer, […]
Tags: change management, country music, creativity & innovation, developmental delay, pickles, stress, stress management, Wellness
My extended quirky to do list part 7 – to’odle
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication
My last 6 posts describe an extended, quirky to-do list tool that I use in my corporate training (click here to download a copy for you to use). It has 5 parts: – to do, to continue doing, to stop doing, to not do, to done (no, the last one’s not a typo) (here’s a […]
Tags: accomplishment, because we can, change management, corporate, dragon's den, fatboy slim, forum f, forum for women entrepreneurs, four, four hour work week, new year, progress, resolutions, success, tim ferris, to do, training & development